'Espalier'
refers to the training of a plant or tree
to grow flat against a wall or trellis.
Espalier has considerable merit in today's
garden design. The practice was originally
used in the old world to conserve space
in small orchards and gardens. Today,
espaliers are used for introducing a decorative
accent in the landscape.
An espalier becomes a living sculpture
in the garden. In landscape designs, we
use espaliered plants and trees to cover
unsightly, boring, or blank, windowless
walls in the landscape. Espalier can bring
an otherwise boring wall to life.
We also use espalier between widely spaced
windows to add height in the foundation
planting. Also, there are often tight,
confined areas where spreading shrubs
or trees cannot be effectively maintained
to stay within the confines, but an espalier
will fit. With landscape spaces becoming
smaller around the single family house,
espaliered plants have considerable appeal.
Our
Favorite Plants/Trees for Espalier
For
Sun - north or west walls: |
Burning Bush - No support
necessary.
Chaenomeles - Minor
hardware attachments may be needed.
Forsythia (Yellow Bells)
- Minor support needed for smaller barnches.
Burford Holly - No support
necesary.
Holly 'Weeping Yaupon'
- No support necessary. Minor attachment
is suggested to train upright and hold
against wall.
Jasmine Vines - Support
in the form of a trellis, lattice, or
wire structure is necessary.
Japanese Maple - Usually
no support necessary.
Juniperus 'Hollywood' - No support
necessary.
Magnolia 'Little Gem' - No support
necessary. Minor attachment hardware may
be necessary to train and hold against
wall.
Magnolia 'Japanese Tulip Tree'
- No support necessary. Minor attachment
hardware may be necessary to train and
hold against wall.
Apple, Crabapple - No
support necessary. Attachment hardware
may be necessary to train brances in patterns
and to hold against wall. Heavy duty tellis
structure is necessary to create live
wall partitions.
Redbud Tree - Usually
no support necessary.
Roses (Climbing) - Support
or attachment hardware will be necessary.
Rose of Sharon (Althea)
- Hardware is necessary to train against
wall.
Yew (Podocarpus) - Attachment
hardware may be necessary to train and
hold against wall.
Viburnum - No support
necessary. Attachment hardware may be
necessary to train and hold against wall.
Vines - Support in the
form of a trellis, lattice or wire is
necessary. For larger vines such as wisteria
attachment hardware is necessary.
For
Shade - south or east walls: |
Anise Shrubs - Support
not necessary. Attachment hardware is
necessary to train branches in patterns
and hold against wall.
Camellia japonica -
Hardware is necessary to attach smaller
branches to surface or support structure.
Camellia sasanqua - Hardware
is necessary to attach to surface or support
structure.
Creeping Fig - A climbing
clinger that needs no support.
Ivy - Clinging vine
attaches itself to stucco, brick, or stone
walls.
Pyracantha - Support
or attachment hardware is necessary to
train branches in patterns and hold against
wall.
Redbud and Dogwood -
Usually no support necessary.
NOTE: Many other plants
not included in the above list can be
used if they produce many lateral branches
and can be severely pruned.
Espalier
Techniques
There are numerous espalier techniques
to employ; from the very simple, free
flowing natural and informal designs to
complicated formal patterns. below are
a few ideas:
|
|
Little Gem Magnolia
against wall |
Pyracantha against
wall |
|
|
Camellia Sasanqua
against wall |
Rose of Sharon
against wall |
|
|
Apple Tree
against wall |
Apple Tree
as fence |
|
|
Pear Tree against
wall |
Pyracantha
against wall |
|
|
Creeping
Fig on wall |
Ivy
on wall |
Planting
Esaplier
Most espalier plants are trained against
a solid wall. The root ball of a plant
should be planted 6-10 inches or more
away from a wall to allow room for roots
to grow and to provide adequate air circultaion.
Lean plant towards wall when planting.
Follow instructions in Planting
a Shrub or Planting
a Tree for proper installation.
NOTE: In foundation
plantings make sure that the hole is dug
just outside any eave or overhang so that
the plants roots will receive the benefit
of natural rain water.
Supporting
Espalier Plants
Many espalier plants or trees require
no support at all. When planting just
lean them to grow up against the wall.
In foundation plantings make sure that
the hole is dug just outside any eave
or overhang so that the plants roots will
receive the benefit of natural rain water.
If support is needed or desired, any
number of materials can be used as a support.
If the wall is constructed of suitable
material, the plant can be trained directly
on the wall. If not, a tellis or wire
structure can be used for support.
There are several hardware items useful
for attaching the branches of plants or
trees to walls. For masonry walls, u-bolts,
eye bolts, and eye screws are helpful.
They can be anchored by using expandable
lead shields, or plastic plugs in the
mortar joints. For supporting espaliers
against a brick wall, anchoring devices
are available at nursery and garden centers
and hardware stores.
Training
& Pruning Espalier
If you start with an unpruned plant,
be sure to plant it far enough away from
the base of the wall, and prune sparingly
until the plant becomes established, then
regular pruning and training as desired
can be accomplished.
The secret of satisfactory results with
espalier is to begin with a younger tree
or shrub that has several well balanced
limbs off the main trunk.
There are numerous patterns from which
to select. These range from the formal
checker-board patterns to the simple informal
natural growth spread. Almost any design
can be worked out with proper pruning.
remember though, the simpler the design,
the easier the maintenance.
To maintain an espalier, remove all stray
branches that appear vertical; growing
out from the flat surface and beyond the
boundaries of the desired pattern. Pruning
and the occasional tying of new shoots
to the surface of the wall are the main
maintenance jobs.
Most of the major pruning should be
done while the plant is dormant, or if
it is a flowering plant, be sure to prune
in the appropriate season. Most flowering
shrubs and trees should be pruned just
after they bloom except for ones like
crape
myrtles which should be pruned in
February or March. Remember that pruning
does stimulate more growth. The limbs
are most flexible during the summer. One
can bend and train them to supports as
the season progresses.
Once established, the espalier tree or
shrub requires only a small amount of
maintenance each season, yet it contributes
year-round distinction to the garden.
A plant which has been espaliered correctly
is a real work of art. Patience, skill,
and creativeness is necessary for a successful
project.
How to Espalier an Apple Tree
Espalier has a great deal of ornamental
value - few garden scenes are more stunning
than a blooming apple tree growing against
a brick wall - but it’s also an
effective technique for producing an ample
crop of fruit in a small space. You don’t
need an orchard to grow apple trees. A
sunny wall, a special pruning technique
and patience are all you need to espalier
an apple tree.
To encourage substantial fruit production,
prune with two objectives in mind. First,
train the tree to the classic flattened,
horizontal shape of espalier. Second,
encourage the growth of short fruiting
stems, or spurs, that will ultimately
produce apples.
Start with a tree that has been grafted
onto dwarf rootstock. All commercial apple
trees are grafted onto roots from selected
hardy apple trees. Some rootstock is dwarfing
and will produce small trees. Other rootstock
produces full-size trees. If you espalier
a full-size tree, it will have much thicker,
heavier trunks and branches. The fruit
trees we stock at the nursery are too
large for starting an espalier.
We recommend buying your 'dwarf' fruit
tree(s) that you will use for espalier
by mail order or from sources over the
internet. Make sure to purchase dwarf
varieties unless you are growing the tree
on a very large and high wall.
Order
Fruit Trees. Apple, Cherry, and more!
You will begin with a 2- to 3-foot sapling,
or whip, that is still very pliable and
has not yet grown any side branches. It
can be planted against a wall, a sturdy
trellis or other flat surface. The wall
will have an added advantage of absorbing
heat to hasten ripening.
The following steps will get you on your
way to creating an apple-bearing espalier.
1.String three to four rows of galvanized
wire horizontally on the wall or trellis,
about 2 feet apart.
2.Plant the 3-foot whip in the middle
of the structure.
3.Find the lowest bud on the whip and
prune off the wood above it. That bud
should be about 2 feet from the base of
the whip and coincide with the lowest
wire. Lateral branches will begin to grow
out and away from the cut.
4. Tie one end of a bamboo cane to the
first horizontal wire and the other end
to the young branch, pulling it down toward
the wire and training it to grow along
the wire. It usually takes two growing
seasons to get branches to grow at right
angles to the main vertical trunk.
5. In the meantime, the whip will continue
to grow upward from the original bud you
located when you made the first cut. Let
it grow to the second horizontal wire
and again make a cut above a bud. When
lateral branches grow from that point,
repeat the process of attaching them to
the horizontal wires.
A typical espalier is 6 to 8 feet tall,
with three to four sets of horizontal
branches. Your goal is to keep the tree
in bounds. Fruit yields will be proportionately
much greater from an espalier than from
a full-size tree.
It generally takes five to seven years
to create a completed espalier structure
and harvest fruit. Until that time, prune
out any developing fruit. Your goal in
the first few years is to encourage the
tree to put all of its energy into growing
branches that establish the basic framework.
Once that happens, all future pruning
is to encourage fruit production.
Apples on all trees, whether espalier
or not, are borne on short stems called
spurs. As buds and new shoots form along
a lateral branch, prune them back to a
point close to the branch where five leaves
cluster around the stem. This encourages
the buds on the bottom half of the lateral
branch to produce fruit. This pruning
will also remove the end buds that are
more likely to produce leaves and stems.
Espaliered Camellia
When choosing sasanqua camellias to espalier,
look for plants with open, sprawling growth
and several leading branches.
Plant your camellias against the wall
or trellis, then tie the branches back
in either a symmetrical or informal pattern.
Camellia branches can also be hooked to
galvanised wires running horizontally
along the wall, but they can also be tied
to eye screws anchored into the brick
wall with plastic plugs. Ties are needed
about every 20cm (8"), and they will
have to be loosened and adjusted as the
plant grows. You can also use a steel
or wooden trellis for support.
Prune regularly to achieve the flat,
two-dimensional effect which is characteristic
of all espaliers, but leave any major
pruning until flowering has finished.
Creating a formal espalier is time consuming
and takes patience, but the end result
is fabulous.
Artistic iron structures simulated to
look like plants are also available. This
form of wall art requires no maintenance
at all and is quite attractive. We are
presently looking for sources for these
structures. You could design a structure
yourself and hire a local iron smith to
build it for you.
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